Frontiere politiche, confini culturali e competenze linguistiche. Un caso nell'Africa orientale

Contemporary maps of Africa clearly show the borders of states across the continent. Not everyone knows, however, that before the colonial rush for Africa, national borders and geographical boundaries were much less codified. Nowadays the perception of colonial borders among people living in border areas is diverse as borders are subject to cultural interpretation and negotiation. The separations created by colonial borders may not be perceived as permanent; people may feel that they have very strong ties across national borders; and borders may be created through the construction of cultural categories alien to political boundaries. Furthermore, the same lines created by national borders can foster aggregations of differently associated ethnic identity markers on each side of the border, so that people can use opposing border areas to positively enhance their self-perception and even self-esteem. The Somali Zigula who lived along the Juba River before leaving the area because of the war in the 1990s are an example of a group that has downplayed the role of modern national borders while considering cultural similarities highly relevant to their identity as a community. This case shows that linguistic elements and characteristics of kinship can be manipulated and adapted for this purpose. The present article describes some conditions in which cultural similarities can become ways in which borders are not determined by the adjacency of a geographical territory, but culturally constructed; furthermore, frontier areas can be places in which branches of “positive identity” (Epstein 1983,185) are experienced and lived. Refugee camps and refugee status itself can be considered border areas both geographically and metaphorically1